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F SL1YEH0LDM NOT SINFUL ? 



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^3ST ^.RG-TJMEISrT 



BEFORE THE 



(General £|K0b 



OF TUB 



REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH, 



OCTOBER, 1855 



SAMUEL B. HOW, D.D., 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, NEW-BRUNSWICK, N. J. 



^, NEW-YORK: 

PRINTED BY JOHN A. GRAY, 95 & 97 CLIFF ST., OOR. FRANKFORT 




J 






^ . c 




1855. 



VM9JQ3 






8LAVEHOLDINO NOT S 1 N I I 1.. 



AN ARGUMENT 



BEFORE THE 



GENERAL SYNOD 



OP THE 



$efonurir frotdanf gutcjf tfjjttrrjr, 



OCTOBER, 1855 



BY 

SAMUEL B . HOW, D.D., 

/i 

PASTOE OF THE FIBST KEFOEMED DUTCH CITDTIC0, NEW-BEUN8W1CE, K. i. 



NEW-YORK: 

JOHN A. GRAY, PRINTER & STEREOTYPER, 
95 & 9T CLIFF STREET. 

1 8^5. 









Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by 

HENRY K. HOW, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 

Southern District of New-York. 






A RELATION 



CIRCUMSTANCES THAT CALLED FORTH THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS. 



The Author of the following address to the General Synod of the 
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of North America, deems it 
proper to state: that at the meeting of the Synod in the City of New- 
Brunswick in June last, "a communication was received from the 
North-Carolina Classis of the German Eeformed Church, purporting 
to be a certified copy of their action in reference to seeking an eccle- 
siastical connection with the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, 
which was referred to the Committee on Correspondence," of which 
he was the chairman. That committee recommended to Synod the 
adoption of the following resolution : 

"Resolved, That Synod cordially reciprocate the fraternal feelings expressed by the 
Classis of North-Carolina of the German Reformed Church ; that they regard with 
favor their proposal of effecting an ecclesiastical relation with our Church ; and that 
so soon as they present duly-authenticated testimonials of their accepting its stand- 
ards and constitution, they shall be received as one of its integral parts, and so be 
fully incorporated with it, and shall be known among us as the German Reformed 
Classis of North-Carolina, of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of North- 
America." 

The Report recommending this resolution was accepted. But when 
it was moved to adopt the above resolution, debate followed, and it 
was discussed at some length ; when Rev. Thornton Butler, who had 
been recognized by Synod as the Commissioner from the North- 
Carolina Classis, perceiving from the debate that several members of 
the Synod were opposed to forming a connection with them, with- 
drew the application of the Classis. He was afterwards requested. 



4 ADDRESS. 

by a resolution of the Synod, to " reconsider the withdrawal of his 
papers, and leave them in the hands of the Synod until their meeting 
in October next : whereupon he consented to leave them in the hands 
of the Synod, subject to the advice of his Classis." According to the 
report of the New-York Tribune, of June 16, 1855, there were two 
principal objections raised against the receiving of the Classis by the 
Synod ; the one was, that it was inexpedient to do so, because it 
would endanger the peace of the Church, and expose it to being dis- 
tracted by the agitation of the question of slavery. This was urged 
by Rev. Dr. Wyckoff, of Albany, and Rev. Dr. Bethune, of Brook- 
lyn. The other was, that slaveholding is a sin, and that we ought not 
to hold communion with slaveholders. This objection was urged by 
Rev. Isaac G. Duryee, of Schenectady, who said, that he had " conscien- 
tious scruples against the formation of such a relation." According to 
the Tribune, he declared as follows : " I can say that my inmost soul 
shrinks from the idea of our extending the fellowship of our church to 
slaveholding churches as I shrink from the touch of the torpedo," etc., 
etc. The writer of this was not aware at the time that there were any 
Abolitionists among the ministers of the Reformed Dutch Church, or 
that such feelings as those expressed by Rev. Mr. Duryee existed in 
the minds of any members of the Synod. He knew that slavery 
had existed in the Reformed Dutch Church for generations past, and 
that it now exists ; and that there is no prohibition of it in the form 
of our church-government, and that it had never been reproved by 
General Synod. He was, therefore, taken completely by surprise. 
He, however, attempted a reply, and among other things, reminded 
the Synod that, as a judicatory of the Church of Christ, they were 
bound to administer its government according to the laws and the 
principles taught us in God's holy word ; and that, as there was no 
prohibition of the holding of slaves, and nothing whatever in that holy 
word to warrant our refusal to form an ecclesiastical connection with 
these German brethren, we ought to assent to their proposal by 
receiving and incorporating them with our Church. 

At the late meeting of Synod in October, in the city of New- York, 
the question of receiving this Classis was again considered. On the 
third day <>f the session of Synod, a motion was made and carried in 
the affirmative to lay the whole subject upon the table ; the vote at 
first standing 44 ayes and 41 nays. The ayes and nays were called 
for, and the vote then resulted in 50 ayes and 47 noes. The Comis- 
sioner from the Classis of North-Carolina considered this vote as 
clearlj exhibiting the feelings of a majority of the Synod towards the 
Classis, and withdrew fqpm its sessions. He also expressed to the 



ADDRESS. 

Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence lii-i desire il 
would do nothing more in relation to this business, and received from 
him the assurance that he would comply with bis request. When, 
therefore, on the following day, this matter was called up, he 
to the Synod, that he considered tin* vote on die motion to la_\ thi • 
whole subject on the table as decisive, and thai he had promised the 
Commissioner from North-Carolina that he would take qo further pari 
in any doings of the Synod on this question. The foil- ilution 

was finally adopted : 

" Wfiereas, It is evident from the opinions expressed on this floor, thai 
can not unite cordially in receiving the Classis of North-Carolina within the limits 
of our Church ; and whereas the Synod, desire to treat the Cla- 
Una with the courtesy and kindness due to respected brethren, therefore 

"Resolved, That the Cofamissioner of the Classis of North-Carol ixu -ted to 

withdraw his papers." 

On the second day of the sessions of Synod, it being the order of 
the day to take this subject up, the Chairman of the Committee on 
Correspondence delivered, with the exception of a fi u pa isages which 
he omitted when speaking before the Synod, the following 



ADDRESS. 



Mr. President : Two principal objections Lave been made 
against receiving into our Church the Classis of North-Carol inn. 
The first objection is, that if we do so, we shall destroy the 
peace of "our Church, and introduce among ourselves distra< 
tion and division by the agitation of the slavery question. The 
second objection is, that slaveholding is a sin, and that there- 
fore, we ought not to admit slaveholders into our Church. I 
shall attempt, first of all, to show that slaveholding is not a Bin, 
and that therefore, there is no reason to exclude slaveholders, 
simply because they are slaveholders, • from union and com- 
munion with our Church. If this is established, then both < >1 - 
jections necessarily fail: for it would be alike absurd and 
wicked to disturb the peace of the Church for that which the 
Scriptures teach us is not a sin, and which was no bar to 
church-fellowship with the Apostles of Christ. Let it be re- 



6 ADDRESS. 

marked that we admit slavery is an evil, much to be lamented ; 
but we deny that it is, as has been asserted, a sin against God 
and a crime against man. 

I. THE HOLDING OF A SLAVE NOT A SIN. 

It has been said that "American Slavery is at war with the 
Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United 
States, natural justice, and Christianity" — "that slavery is a 
sin against God and a crime against man, etc."* To these bold 
statements we reply, that the mass of the American people have 
never considered the holding of slaves as at war with the De- 
claration of Independence ; that the Supreme Court of the Na- 
tion has declared that it is not against the Constitution of the 
United States ; and that it is not against natural justice and 
Christianity, we shall now endeavor to prove. "We admit that 
it is an evil much to be lamented, but we deny that it is a sin 
against God and a crime against man. 

As I am addressing the Supreme Ecclesiastical Court of the 
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, my final appeal shall be 
to the Holy Scriptures as the inspired word of God, the only 
infallible and perfect rule of right and wrong, truth and error, 
i n mat te rs < >f religious faith and duty. We all profess to believe 
that " the law and the testimony of God" are the standard of 
duty and the rule of faith, and that if any " speak not accord- 
ing to this word, it is because there is no light in them." 

That the holding of slaves is not a sin we prove from the 
following passages of Scripture : 

1. 1 Tim. 6 : 1-5 : " Let as many servants as are under 
the v<»kc count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the 
name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. And they 
that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because 
they are brethren ; but rather do them service, because they 
are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things 
teach and exhort. If any man teach otherwise, and consent 
nut to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness ; he 
i- proud, knowing nothing, hut doting about questions and 

i::th Annual Report of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 
pp. 3 and 1C. 



THE HOLDING OF A SLAVE NOT A .IV 7 

strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, Btrife, railings, evil but- 

raisings, perverse disputings of men of conn pi minds, and d 
tiite of the truth, supposing that gain is godlin< Bfl : from Wcl 
withdraw thyself." 
We hegm with the New Testament to obviate an objection 

that mi glit bo urged if we should begin with the < Md Testa 
ment, that the Christian dispensation lias greater light and 
freedom and privileges than were enjoyed under tin- Jewish 
dispensation, and that therefore, though Slavery might have 
lawfully existed under the latter, that can not, be pleaded in 
favor of its existing under the former. Our endeavor will In- 
to show that they both entirely agree on the point before as. 

The term "servants" in this passage of sacred Scripture is in 
the original Greek, "8ovXoi,," the primary meaning of which, 
Robinson in his Greek and English Lexicon of the New Testa 
ment, gives as, " a bondman, slave, servant, pr. by birth ; dill'. 
from dvdp&TTodov, one enslaved in war." — lie says: "In a family 
the dovXog was one hound to serve, a slave, and was the prop 
erty of his master, 'a living possession,' as Aristotle calls 
him." — Schleusner gives as the meaning of the term — l.proprie: 
servus, minister, homo non liber, nee sui juris et opponitur -ni 
eXevdepog, that is, " its first and proper signification is that of a 
slave, a serving-man, a man who is not free and at his own dis- 
posal." But to put his meaning beyond doubt, the Apostle adds 
the words, " under the yolcc" which is an emblem of servitude 
or of the rule to which any one is subject. lie here unques- 
tionably speaks of slaves who are under bondage to their mas- 
ters. Bloomfield says : " The commentators are not sufficiently 
aware of the strength of this expression, in which there is a 
blending of two expressions to put the case in its strongest 
point of view (supposing even the harshest bondage) in order 
to make the injunction to obedience the more forcible." These 
slaves the Apostle commands to " count their own masters, 
whether heathen or Christians or Jews, worthy of all honor," 
and the reason that he gives for this is, " that the name of God 
and his doctrine be not blasphemed." It was lawful by the law 
of Moses, to make of the heathen bondmen for life, and to hold 
their children in bondage. But not so with one who was born a 
Jew. lie was permitted to serve only for six years, and it is quite 
possible that there were some false teachers who asserted that. 



8 ADDRESS. 

as no Jew was to remain a slave for life, so ought no Christ- 
ian. 

Tin's sentiment, if it had prevailed among those slaves who 
< Jhristians, wonldhave cansed them to despise and hate. their 

raj and to withhold from them the respect and obedience 
which they owed to them. They would thus bring a reproach 
on the Gospel as if it were a doctrine that taught men contempt 
for their superiors, and disobedience to their lawful commands. 
From speaking of the duty which slaves owe to their masters 
in general, the Apostle passes on to speak to those who have 
believing masters who arc their brethren in Christ. Here the 
questions whether the holding of slaves is a sin, and whether 
we should hold Christian communion with slaveholders, are 
fairly met. Does the Apostle then teach the slaves that 
they ought to be free ? that their Christian masters sin in hold- 
ing them in bondage? and does he, with apostolic authority 
and in the name of Jesus Christ, command the masters to give 
them their freedom? lie does nothing of the kind. He not 
only does not require these Christian masters to set their slaves 
at liberty, but he speaks of them as "faithful and beloved" 
brethren, " partakers of the benefit," and for this very reason 
he exhorts Christian slaves not to despise them, but rather to do 
them service. It seems impossible for the question before us 
to be more fully and directly settled. But the Apostle proceeds 
further. He says that " if any man teach otherwise," that is, if 
there is any Abolitionist among you, any Immediate Emanci- 
pationist, who says that no Christian can, without sin, hold a 
slave ; that if he holds any, ho is bound in duty immediately to 
liberate them, and if he does not, then true Christians are bound 
to refuse church-fellowship and communion with him lest they 
should partake of his sin — if any man teach these things, then 
he does " not consent to wholesome words, even the words of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according 
to godliness." This we should suppose would have been a 
aufficienl rebuke. But to show the criminality of the doctrine 
of these early Abolitionists in the Christian church, the Apostle 
proceeds to say, thai he who teaches their doctrine "is proud, 
knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of 
words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, 
perverse dispntings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of 



THE HOLDING OF A SLAVE NOT A SIN'. 9 

the truth, supposing that gainis godliness." Ee, then, in a 

most marked manner, shows the falseness and danger of their 
sentiments by commanding Timothy, "from Buch withdraw 
thyself," that is, hold no intercourse with them. We -hall not 
inquire how far this precept extends, nor whether it is :t pro- 
hibition against holding church communion with Abolitionists ; 
nor whether the Apostle does not mean to teach as thai their 
sentiments are so revolutionary . so subversive of the established 
order of society, so calculated to produce discontenl and resent- 
ment in the minds of the slaves as to endanger nol only public 
but domestic peace and safety, and to produce by stirring np 
the slaves to insurrection, massacres and horrors, like th 
the Massacres of St. Domingo, in the year 1790. Certain it 
is, that he commands us to withdraw from them. 

2. We now turn to the Old Testament. We are informed, 
Gen. 17 : 1-14, that when Abram was ninety years old and 
nine, the Lord again ratified the Covenant which he had 
made with him, and instituted circumcision as the Bacramental 
sign of the Covenant. He commanded : " He that is eight 'lays 
old among you, every man-child, in your generations — he that 
is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, 
must needs be circumcised." (V. 12, 13.) " He that is bought 
with thy money," means the bought slave, and to snch God 
commanded the sign of his covenant to be administered. 
Here then God took Abraham, a slaveholder, his children and 
his bought slaves into covenant with himself without express- 
ing the slightest disapprobation of his holding slaves, but in 
the fullest manner authorizing him to retain them as a portion 
of his family or household by taking him and them into coven- 
ant with him. Abraham was a large slaveholder, for we are 
told, Gen. 14 : 14, 15, that he armed three bunded and eight- 
een of his slaves to pursue the kings who had captured Lot ; 
and the servant whom he commissioned to procure a wife for 
Isaac, in recounting to the family of Eebecca the great wealth 
of Abraham said : "The Lord hath blessed my master greatly. 
and he is become great ; and he hath given him flocks and 
herds, and silver and gold, and men-servants and maid-ser- 
vants, and camels and asses." (Gen. 24 : 35.) Here merwervanta 
— the original term means servants who are bought, or inherit- 
ed slaves — such men-servants and maid-servants are enumer- 



10 ADDRESS. 

at.- 1 S£ a part i >f the property belonging to Abraham — property 
which the Lord bath given him — and in the bestowal of which 
the Lord had blessed him, and the possession of which Abra- 
ham's Bervant urged as a reason for Eebecca marrying his son. 
Bui what is the character that is given to Abraham? The 
Apostle James tells us that this slaveliolding Abraham "was 
called th< frit nd of God." (Jas. 2 : 23.) The Apostle Paul 
teaches us that he was "the father of all them that believe." 
(Kom. 4 : 11.) In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, to 
teach us the wonderful change that death made in the con- 
dition of the poor beggar, Christ tells us that "he was carried 
by the angels into Abraham's bosom." (Luke 16 : 22.) 

T Covenant which we are considering, was made with Abra- 
ham and with his children that should come after him in their 
generations, for an everlasting Covenant. It was by this cove- 
nant that God first organized his visible Church on earth. He 
and his descendants were now separated from the world by God 
himself, and were taken into a special covenant-relation with 
him. The promise given was : " I will be a God unto thee 
and to thy seed after thee," ami as the sign and the seal of this 
Covenant, circumcision was instituted ; and thenceforth the 
descendants of Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob, became 
" an holy people unto the Lord their God ;" and the Lord chose 
them to be a peculiar people to himself above all nations 
that were upon the earth. (Deut. 14 : 2.) A special promise 
given to Abraham was : "In thy seed shall all the nations of 
the earth be blessed." This promised seed was Christ. Because 
of the rejection of Christ by the Jews, the natural descendants 
of Abraham, they became an apostate church, and the kingdom 
of God was taken away from them and given to a nation or a 
race of men bringing forth the fruits thereof. They ceased to 
be the peculiar people of God, and thenceforth the middle wall 
of partition, the ceremonial law that separated the Jew from 
the < rentile, was broken down by Christ ; and believing Gentiles 
were admitted into the Church along with believing -lews. The 
covenant, however, was the same, and through Christ the 
blessing of Abraham comes on the Gentiles, for they are all 
the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and so the}' are 
Abraham's Beed and heirs according to the promise. Circum- 
cision taught the .lew to look forward by faith to a coming 



THE HOLDING OF A SLAVE NOT A SIN. 11 

Messiah to save him from sin and make him a child of God. 
Baptism teaches all believers in Christ to look back and rejoice 
that the promised seed of Abraham, from whom he receiv< - the 
blessings of salvation, has come. Circumcision now on the 
part of the Jews is the standing testimony againsl them that 
they reject Christ, and so are rejected by him. Baptism is the 
standing testimony that we believe in Christ as tin- seed of 
Abraham, in whom it was promised that all nations should be 
blessed. Before the coming of Christ, circumcision, and sinoe 
his coming, baptism distinguish from the world the organized 
visible Church of God, which has existed from the institution of 
circumcision, and will exist till the end of time. But this cov- 
enant was made with a slaveholder, and this visible Church 
was organized in his family, and his slaves received the sign of 
the covenant along with himself and his children. 

Moreover, the non-holding of slaves has never been made a 
term or condition of church- fellowship. Bingham, in his xVnti- 
quities of the Christian Church, informs us that, " We find by the 
author of the Constitutions, under the name of the Apostles,* that 
in the first ages of the Christian Church, one part of the inquiry 
that was made concerning those who offered themselves to 
baptism was, whether they were slaves or freemen. If they 
were slaves to a heathen, they were only taught their obliga- 
tions to please their master, that the word of God might not be 
blasphemed ; and the master had no further concern in their 
baptism, as being himself an infidel ; but if the master were a 
Christian, then the testimony of the master was first to be re- 
quired concerning the life and conversation of his slave before 
he could be admitted to the privilege of baptism. If he gave 
a laudable account of him he was received ; if otherwise, he was 
rejected till he approved himself to his master. So far in those 
days it was thought necessary and serviceable to religion to 
grant Christian masters a power over their slaves, that without 
their testimony and approbation they could not be accepted as 
fit candidates for baptism."f So far, too, we may add, were 
they from considering the holding of slaves to be sinful in 
itself. 

* Supposed to be of the second and third centuries. 

f Book 11th, chap. 5, sec. 4, p. 502. See also Southern Presbyterian Review, 
Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 582-583. 



12 ADDRESS. 

3. Our third argument to prove that the holding of slaves 
is not sinful, is derived from Exod. 20 : 17. "Thou shalt not 
thy neighbor's house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's 
nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor 
his ass, nor any thing thai is thy neighbor's." This precept 
establishes the righl of property, and forbids not only the unjust 
depriving the owner of his lawful property, buteventhe secret 
desire to do so. It strikes down at once into the dust Commun- 
ism and Socialism. It teaches us that there is a division, and that 
there are rights of property ; thai there are masters and that 
there are slaves, and bids us to respect the right of the master, 
and not to covet his man-servant or his maid-servant. 

The division of property and the security of the owner in the 
ssion of it, lie at the foundation of civilized and Christian 
lite, and where they are unknown men arc wandering tribes of 
barbarians, ignorant, rapacious, and debased. To cultivate the 
arts and sciences that embellish and exalt human life, and es- 
pecially to have colleges and churches, the right of property 
must be respected, and the desire and the attempt to deprive 
others of property which the law of God and the law of the 
land have made it lawful for them to hold, is to strike a blow 
at the very existence of civilization and Christianity. We ad- 
mit that there are great inequalities in the possession of pro- 
perty and in the conditions of men, and that there are many evils 
to be deplored. But with all their inequalities and evils, the 
; despotism on earth is to be preferred to a state of constant 
anarchy and consequently of constant warfare. Oppressive as 
despotism may be, yet under it the masses of men live in com- 
parative quiet and security. Under anarchy no man is safe in 
the possession of life or property. God therefore commands us 
to respect the right Of property, to leave the lawful owner of it 
in the undisturbed possession of it, even though it be a man- 
servant or a maid-servant. What though we may think slavery 
unjust, yet there it is, it actually exists, for wise and good rea- 
B • - God permits it, and he commands us not to seek by force 
to remove it. lie has scut forth no messengers of violence and 
of war, no spiritual knight-errants to fight with carnal weapons, 
and by force and bloodshed to remove the evils and oppressions 
that exist, or that we may imagine to exisl among men. This was 
the plan of Mohammed, who went forth with sword and fire to 



THE HOLDING OF A SLAVE NOT A SIN. l:; 

punish and destroy all who did not agree with him in whal he 
considered truth and right. This was the plan of the French infi- 
del propagandists of 1793 ; and thiswefear is tin- plan of many 
amongst us, and we regret to say of some who are called min- 
isters ofthe Gospel, a name which they do not deserve and should 
not bear. No, "the weapons of our warfare, nol carnal, but 
mighty through God to the pulling down of strong-holds." We 
are ministers of peace, not of war, and they who would put 
down what they consider wrong among us by violence and war, 
might have made good followers of Mohammed and able allies 
to French infidel republicans ; but we can not admit their claim 
to be the ministers of the Gospel of the Prince of Peace. 

4. Our fourth argument to prove that slavery is not sinful, 
is derived from the ceremonial and political law given to the 
Israelites by God, as well as the moral law. One of the most 
remarkable of the institutions of the Levitical law, was the 
passover which commemorated the deliverance of the Israelites 
from their bondage in Egypt. We are told that the Lord said 
to Moses and Aaron : " This is the ordinance of the passover ; 
there shall no stranger eat thereof. But every man's serva/rU 
that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, 
then shall he eat thereof. A foreigner and- an hired servant 
shall not eat thereof." "When the bought servant was circum- 
cised he became a member of his master's family, and was 
entitled to various privileges which were not granted to the 
foreigner who was a hired servant. He became one of the 
covenant people of God, for his circumcision signified this to 
him ; and if he was an Israelite indeed, then it was to him, as 
well as to Abraham, " a seal of the righteousness of faith." 

Another remarkable law was that of the Jubilee, which re- 
turned every fiftieth year, when every Hebrew servant was set 
free with his children, and was restored to his own family and 
the possessions of his father. But it was not so with servants 
who were foreigners. The law in relation to them was as fol- 
lows : " Both thy bond-men and thy bond-maids which thou 
shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you ; 
of them shall ye buy bond-men and bond-maids. Moreover, 
of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of 
them shall ye buy and of their families that are with you which 
they begat in your land, and they shall be your possession ; and 



14 ADDRESS. 

ill take them as an inheritance for your children after you 
to inherit them fi >r a possession. They shall be your bond-men 
for ever." I Lev. 25 : -±-1— ±G.) It is remarkable that this law was 
given within the space of the first year after the departure of 
the Israelites out of Egypt.* But in all the history of their de- 
liverance from the cruel bondage in which they were there 
held, no mention is made of any slaves among them ; nor when 
we consider their abject poverty is it probable that they pos- 
sessed any. It seems probable, therefore, that the laws relating 
to slaveholding were given to them in anticipation of the ex- 
• of slavery among them after they were settled in the 
land of Canaan ; and if so, they were plainly permitted by God 
to hold slaves. "When Abraham was taken into covenant by 
God, the holding of slaves was fully established, and had he 
even wished and attempted to do away with it, we have no 
reason to suppose that he would have succeeded, but would 
have exposed himself and his family to the resentment of those 
among whom he dwelt, and that therefore God permitted him 
to hold slaves. But this can not be said of the laws in relation 
to Blavery which were given to the Israelites. They were then 
separated from all other nations, alone and in the wilderness, 
they were under the special protection of God and had nothing 
tof, sar from any of the neighboring nations. But instead of for- 
bidding them to hold slaves, he expressly permitted them to do 
so. We might produce other arguments from the laws given 
by Moses to the Israelites ; but we think that enough has been 
nted to show that the holding of slaves was not forbidden 
by < rod, and was no bar to the enjoying of church privileges. 

It may be objected, however, that under the Old-Testament 
dispensation many things were permitted which are not tole- 
rated under the New-Testament dispensation, a dispensation of 
greater light and purity and privileges than belonged to the 
old dispensation. Let us then examine the New Testament 
and inquire what are its teachings on this subject. 

1. Our first remark is, that Christ and his Apostles in the 
strongest manner assert the divine inspiration and binding 
authority of Moses and the Prophets, that is, of the Old-Testa- 
ment Scriptures. On this point there was no dispute between 
them and the Jews. It was Jesus Christ the Son of God who 

* Compare Exodus 19 : 1, with Num. 10 : 11. 



THE HOLDING OF A SLAVE NOT A SIN. 15 

gave to the Israelites their laws in the wilderness, and who 
spake by his spirit in the prophets,* who was again Tisibly 
present among the Jews in the humble form of the Man of 
Nazareth, explaining and enforcing the laws which he had 
before given to them. The Law of Ten Commandments is re- 
ferred to and argued from by both Christ and his Apostles, as 
the Law of God of universal and perpetual obligation, and con- 
sequently the tenth command is in as full force at the present 
day as when it was first given, and the right of the master to 
his man-servant and maid-servant remains as strong as at the 
first. Moreover, all true believers in Christ are children of 
Abraham, and so under and interested in the Covenant which 
God made with him. " Know ye, therefore," says the Apostle, 
" that they which are of faith the same are the children of Abra- 
ham So then they which be of faith are blessed 

with faithful Abraham. . . . If ye be Christ's then are ye 
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal. 3 : Y, 
9, 29.) It is under that covenant which God made with Abra- 
ham to be a God to him and to his seed after him, and of which 
circumcision, before the death of Christ, was the sign, and bap- 
tism now is and has been since his death, that the visible 
Church is now placed, and believing masters with their believ- 
ing slaves are now as they ever have been entitled to the sign 
and privileges of the covenant. 

2. Our Lord repeatedly spoke of slaves, especially in several 
of his parables, without the slightest intimation that he con- 
demned slavery, and in such a way as plainly showed that he 
considered it lawful. Among others we refer to the parable 
of the Unmerciful Servant, Matt. 18 : 23-35. Of the Talents, 
Matt. 25 : 14-30. Of the Unprofitable Servants, Luke 
1Y : Y, 10. 

3. We are told, Matt. 8 : 5-13, that a Centurion came to 
Jesus beseeching him to heal his sick servant. When Jesus 
offered to come and heal him, the centurion replied : " Lord, I 
am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but 
speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I 
am a man under authority, having soldiers under me : and 1 
say to this man, Go, and he goeth ; and to another, Come, and he 

* Luke 24 : 27. Acts 24 : 14, etc. 



16 ADDRESS. 

cometh ; and to my servant . (slave, doi>X(d,) Do this, and he doeth 
[{ "' Eere was a heathen, high in office, acknowledging to 
Christ that he was a slaveholder, and asking of him to heal his 
servant. If the holding of slaves had been sinful, Jesus would, 
we doubt not, have bo informed him. Instead of this he highly 
commended his faith. lie marvelled and said to them that 
follnywd, Wiilv I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, 
n<>. no! in [srael. l>i«l he say that a slaveholder could not be 
a Christian '. that he could not be saved? that he would not 
own him as his disciple? He said just the reverse. "I say 
unto you that many shall come from the east and west and 
shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacobin the king- 
dom of heaven," plainly intimating that this believing Roman 
centurion should be one of them. 

The divinely-inspired writers of the Books of the New Testa- 
ment imitate their Master, for while they address commands, 
exhortations, and admonitions to masters and slaves, they do 
not give the slightest intimation that slaveholding is sinful. 
We shall select some of the passages which refer to this subject : 

Epb. (1 : 5-8. — Servants, be obedient unto them that are your masters ac- 
cording to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart as unto 
Christ : not with eyeserviee as menpleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing 
the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord 
and not to men: knowing thai whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same 
shall he receive ft' the Lord, whether he be bond or free. 

Coloss. 3 : 22-25. — Servants, obey in all things your masters according to 
the flesh, not with eyeserviee as menpleasers ; but in singleness of heart, 
fearing God : and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not 
untu nun ; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inherit- 
ance : for ye serve the Lord Christ. Jiut he that doeth wrong shall receive for 
the wrong which he hath done : and there is no respect of persons. 

Titus 2 : 9, 10. — Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters, and to 
please them in all things; not answering again; not purloining, but showing 
all L r "nil fidelity ; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all 
■ 

1 Pet* r - : 18-21. — Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not 
only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. Lor this is thankworthy, 
if a man foi ace toward God endure grief, Buffering wrongfully. For 

what glory is it. if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently ? 
but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it. ye take it patiently, this is acceptable 
witli God. For even hereunto were ye called.* 

The Apostles fully recognize the right of the masters in their 

* In from tin' Epistles of tho Apostlo Paul, he uses the 

' -the A]- term oiKtrai, which also some- 

times means slaves. S eo Luke 10 : L3. 



THE HOLDING OF A SLAVE NOT A SIN'. 17 

servants, and to their obedience and service, and exhort the 
servants to yield these to their masters, as their duly and for 

conscience toward God. 
We think that we have rally established from Scripture our 

position, that the holding of slaves is not a sin. We might in- 
deed have pursued a shorter course, and have challenged tint 
Abolitionists to produce a single law of God forbidding it. We 
• are told that "whosoever committeth sin transgressetih the law, 
for sin is the transgression of the Law /" (1 John 3 : 4,) and that 
"sin is not imputed when there is no law." (Rom. 5 : 13.) 
Slavery is constantly spoken of in the sacred Scriptures, but 
there is no direct prohibition of it, no special law against it, and 
therefore it does not come under the definition of sin given by 
the inspired apostle. We can not therefore but consider the 
harsh and bitter denunciations of slaveholders as both unwar- 
ranted and anti-scriptural. 

Before leaving this part of our subject, we think it right to 
refer to two cases of fugitive slaves. The one is that of Onesi- 
mus, who ran away from his master, Philemon, who was a 
Christian, and had been converted through the ministry of Paul. 
Though a slaveholder, the Apostle commends him for his love 
and faith toward the Lord Jesus and toward all saints. Onesi- 
mus, his fugitive slave, came to Rome, and was there converted 
also under the ministry of Paul, and had, by his exemplary 
temper and conduct, gained his high esteem. How does Paul act 
under these circumstances? He was an inspired apostle, in- 
vested with authority from Christ to teach Christian doctrines 
and to enforce Christian duties, and therefore his conduct in this 
case would be a precedent to guide the Church in all future 
similar cases. He explicitly and fully recognized the right of 
Philemon, and sent back his slave, at the same time earnestly 
commending him to the mercy and forgiveness and Christian 
love of his master. 

Another strong test-case is that of Hagar, the fugitive slave 
of Abraham. She had fled from the oppression of her mistress, 
Sarah. The angel of the Lord — or rather, as we think the 
words should be translated, the Angel-Jehovah — found her in 
the wilderness, and said, " Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence earnest 
thou ? and whither wilt thou go ? And she said, I flee from the 
face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the Lord said 
2 



13 ADDRES& 

onto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her 
hands." (Gen. 16 : 6-9.) Here the Lord Jehovah taught Ha- 
gar her duty as a Blave, to submit to and obey her mistress, and 
recognized the righl of masters to their slaves. 

We have thus far considered only the question whether slave- 
ry i- a Bin, and haw shown that Abraham was a slaveholder 
when the Lord called and entered into covenant withhim;that 
at the first organization of the visible Church of G-od, slaves and 
their children were admitted into it along with their masters, 
and i hat the sign of the covenant was equally administered to 
both ; that the Laws which < rod gave to the Israelites by Moses 
clearly recognized the right of masters in their slaves and to 
the!,- 1 : That ( 'lirist and Ins apostles enforced these laws ; 
that under the Gospel dispensation slaveholders and their 
slaves were admitted to church-membership and its privileges; 
that special commands were given to regulate the intercourse 
between masters and their slaves ; and that the apostle Paul, 
and even the Angel-Jehovah himself, sent back to their owners 
slaves who had run away from them. It is evident from this 
that God has not made the holding of slaves a sin, and that to 
attempl to exclude all slaveh< dders, simply as and because they 
are >uch, from church communion, is a usurpation of unlawful 
power against the covenant and the law of God. We have 
made our appeal to the Scriptures of truth, heartily assenting to 
the teachings of the confession of faith of our Church, which 
st v- : •• We believe in the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures to 
be the only rule of faith. We believe that those Holy Scrip- 
tures fully contain the word of God, and that whatsoever man 
ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently taught therein. 
Therefore we reject with all our hearts whatso- 
ever doth not agree with this infallible rule which the apostles 
have taught us, saying,' Try the spirits, whether they are of God. 
Likewise, ' If there come any unto you, and bring not this doc- 
trine, receive him not into your house.' " (Art. 1, § 7.) 

II. REASONS FOE THE PERMISSION OF BLA.VERY. 

Since God ha- permitted Blavery to exist in his Church, and 
ha- made it the subject of special legislation, there musl he not 
only sufficient, hut good and wise reasons for his so doing. 



SEASONS FOR THE PERMISSION OF SLAVEKV. i >, 

Should we be unable to discover these reasons, it would be cur 
duty to bow in humble acquiescence, assured thai he ever acts 

with infinite wisdom and goodness. 

But there are most important reasons for what He lias done, 
some of which we shall uow attempt to specify. Slavery i 
of the bitter effects of the fall, and of the great wickedm 
men. The only effectual remedy for these evils, is tin- redemp- 
tion of men from sin. by our Lord Jesus Christ; and this 
redemption is applied to them through the instrumentality of 
the word, and of the ministers of God which he has given to 
the Church. 

At the very time when God pronounced on man the sentence 
of death, immediately after his first sin, he said to the Serpenl : 
"I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between 
thy seed and her seed : it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt 
bruise his heel." It is here foretold that there would be con- 
stant enmity through the whole period of the power of "that 
old Serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the 
whole world," (Rev. 12 : 9;) together with wicked men, whom 
he rules, and who are called " the children of the devil," 
(1 John 3 : 10,) and the Lord Jesus Christ, the seed of the 
woman. It is foretold, that in this contest the seed of the 
woman should bruise the serpent's head, that it should inflict a 
mortal blow on his power; and that the serpent should bruise 
his heel, that it should injure his human nature, in which lie 
dwelt and trod upon the earth. This was accomplished, when 
Christ " through death destroyed him that had the power of 
death, that is, the devil, and delivered them who through fear of 
death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Ileb. 2 : 14, 
15.) This promise gave the first gleam of light and hope to 
our fallen race. All the cruelties and oppressions and deaths 
that have ever existed among men, have been caused by their 
apostasy from God, and the delusions and temptations of the 
devil. The remedy for all this is the redemption that is in 
Christ Jesus. This is the remedy that God has provided, and 
there is no other. The universal extension of the Gospel of 
Christ, in its purity and power, over the whole w r orld, is that 
which alone can remove the evils of the fall. 

This truth was more fully revealed when God gave to Abra- 
ham the promise : "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth 



20 ADDRESS. 

be blessed." The exposition of this promise is given to us by 
the Apostle, when he says: " Now to Abraham and his seed 
were the promises made. lie saith not, And to seeds, as of 
many; bu1 as of one. And to thy seed, which is Christ." He 
says: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law, 
being made a curse for us. . . . That the blessing of Abraham 
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we 
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." (Gal. 
3 : 1G, 13, 14.) This blessing of Abraham, God communicates to 
the world through the Church, and a clear understanding of 
the oiigin, the nature, the privileges, and the design of the 
visible Church, which began in the family of Abraham, will 
greatly assist us to form right conclusions on the subject of 
slavery. 

It had its origin at a time when the world was full of 
idolatry and wickedness, and seemed to be fast hastening to 
the same state of violence and crime as existed before the 
flood. Then, God interposed in wrath, and, with the exception 
of Noah and his family, destroyed the whole race for their sins. 
ISTow, however, he interposed in mercy, not to destroy, but to 
reform the race. To arrest the wickedness that was spreading 
in all directions, and prevent its universal prevalence, he called 
Abraham, and entered into covenant with him. lie appointed 
circumcision, as its sign and seal that he would be a God to 
him and to his seed after him ; and he commanded him to 
administer this sign and seal of the covenant — not to the serv- 
ants that he had hired, but to him that is " bought with money ot 
any stranger which is not of thy seed." (Gen. 17 : 12.) Does 
the Abolitionist burn with indignation against the wickedness 
of slaveholders, and of those who do not join in his wrath and 
denunciations against them \ Does he cry : " Let justice be 
done though the heavens fall ?" Let him look back and see 
this justice done in the terrible desolations of the flood. But did 
this reform man ? It is easy to declaim against popular evils and 
popular sins to which we ourselves have no personal tempta- 
tions; hut it may be laid down as a sure maxim, that the man 
who does not resisl and repel the temptations to which he is 
personally exposed ; who declaims against the sins of others 
with whom lie has no personal connection, and from whom he 
has no reason to fear personal evil, or expect personal profit, 



REASONS FOR THE PERMISSION OP SLAVERY. 'J 1 

while he readily complies with whatever Is popular in the 

Church or the world, and is ready, and even foremost, l" 
whatever the community among whom he lives extols, and to 
decry whatever it decries, would he one of the strongest advo- 
cates of slavery among slaveholders, and one of the loudesl 
demanders of abolition among the enemies of slavery. Bui let 
us suppose that slavery was exterminated by violence, and that 
every slaveholder was compelled to relinquish all Ins Blaves, 
would this better the condition of the world I Would this 
arrest oppression and injustice, and make all men benevolent 
and upright? It would merely set loose a multitude of ignor- 
ant, unprincipled, immoral men, and give them the power to 
follow the promptings of their evil hearts. No permanent and 
beneficial reformation can be effected, except through the 
mercy and grace of God in Christ, and these are usually 
bestowed through the instrumentality of his Church. 

2. A slave belongs to the lowest condition of men, and is 
often exposed to injuries and oppression from his master with- 
out being able to obtain relief. To mitigate the evils of his 
condition, to teach his master that though he is a slave, lie is 
yet a man, an immortal and accountable being like him -elf: 
to assert his rights, and shelter him from injury, God took him 
into covenant with himself, and along with his master and his 
master's children, commanded him to be circumcised. lie 
thus taught the master, that while he permitted him to retain 
the slave as his property, and to require from him labor, and 
obedience to all his lawful commands, he must beware how he 
oppressed and injured him; that he, as the covenant-God of 
his slave, would be the avenger of his wrongs, and that he 
required of him, as the master, to respect the rights, and 
endeavor to promote the spiritual welfare of his slave, and to 
treat him not only as a man, but as a brother in the Lord. 

To the slave, too, who was bought from among the heathen, 
it was a privilege of unspeakable value thus to be admitted 
to the covenant of the people of God. Not only was the con- 
dition of the slave among the heathen much more degraded 
and wretched than among the Israelites, but he lived and died 
in spiritual darkness and hopelessness. But among the 
Hebrews he was placed under the protection of the covenant 
and law of God. He was taught that he was not a poor. 



22 ADDRESS. 

degraded, wretched, and friendless outcast; but that the eternal 
God was his lather and his protector, who admitted him to the 
blessings and the privileges of his covenant, and gave him a 
name and a place in his Church. How great was the privi- 
lege, how rich were the blessings bestowed on him ! 

Among the laws that God gave to protect the slave from the 
cruelty of the master, one was the following : "If a man smite 
srvant or his maid with a rod, and lie die under his hand. 
he shall he surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue 
a day or two, he shall not he punished for he is his money." 
Another law was, that : "If a man smite the eye of his serv- 
ant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish, he shall let him go 
free for his eye's sake. And if he smite out his man-servant's 
tooth or his maid-servant's tooth, he shall let him go free for 
his tooth's sake." (Exod. 21 : 20, 21, 26, 27.) Some suppose 
that the meaning of the words " he shall be punished," in the 
law relative to beating a slave, is that he shall be punished 
with death ; hut many commentators think that it means that 
he shall be punished at the discretion of the magistrate, accord- 
ing to the circumstances of the case. It is, however, implied in 
this case, that the master has beaten his slave with a proper and 
usual instrument of correction, that he did not intend to murder 
him, and that the loss of property and of services is part of his 
punishment. We learn, too, that the mutilation of any mem- 
ber of the body of a slave by his master entitled him to free- 
dom. 

The Hebrews were commanded to give to their slaves the 
rest of the Sabbath, and to allow them to partake along with 
themselves and their sons and their daughters, of the feasts 
which were made of the second tithes. (Dent. 12:17, 18; 
16 : 11.) Thus they were not only protected from the cruelty of 
their masters, but admitted to partake in their most sacred 
festivals, and to rejoice along w T ith them. 

3. It would be interesting to compare the state of slaves 
among the Hebrews, with their state in other and heathen 
nations, and to show its superiority. A writer on Hebrew 
antiquities lias correctly remarked, that though '-they were 
sometimes the subjects of undue severity of treatment, and of 
sufferings in various ways, (Jer. 34 : 8-22,) still it can do! be 
denied thai their condition was better among the Hebrews 



Lore. 



REASONS FOR THE PERMISSION OF SLAVERY. 

than among some other nations, as may be learnt from their 
well-known rebellions against the Greeks and Romans. Nor 
is it at all wonderful that the Hebrews differed from other 

nations in the treatment of their slaves, in a way so much to 
their credit, when we consider thai in other countries there 
was no Sabbath for the slave, no day of rest, and no law- 
sanctioned by the Divinity." (Jahn, §1Y2.) 

From the few intimations that are given as on the subject, 
it seems that pious masters, before the coming of ( Ihrist, t reated 
their slaves with strict justice and humanity; thai the con- 
dition of their slaves was easy, and that they were uol only 
contented, but often strongly attached to their masters. Who 
can read the interesting prayers of the eldest servant of Abra- 
ham, his fidelity in the discharge of the duty committed to him, 
and the terms in which he speaks of his master, without the 
conviction that strong friendship towards each other existed in 
both the master and the slave? (Gen. 24-.) Holy Job had Ids 
slaves, and numerous slaves too; but that he was far from 
oppressing them, and that he rightly discharged his duty to 
them, is manifest from, his solemn protestation before God : "It' 
I did despise the cause of my man-servant or of my maid serv- 
ant when they contended with me, what then shall I do when 
God riseth up ; and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him I 
Did not He that made me in the womb make him ? and did not 
one fashion us in the womb ?" (Job 31 : 13, 15.) 

Such were the laws which God gave to the Hebrews, which 
continued throughout their whole commonwealth, under which 
Christ, as the Son of Man, and his holy apostles, lived, and to 
which, in all their teachings and writings, we find no objec- 
tion — not a single word of their injustice, or of the propriety 
of their repeal, or even of their amendment. What, too, is 
more remarkable, is the fact that, if slavery is unjust, Christ, in 
his comment on, and explanation of the law of Mioses, in his 
Sermon on the Mount, does not give the slightest intimation 
of it. 

When we turn to the inspired writings of the Apostles, writings 
addressed to fully organized Christian churches, whose gOT em- 
inent and discipline were administered by the laws of < Jhrist a 
kingdom, do we find that they denounced slaveholding as a -in I 
Do they require a protest against slavery, or enjoin on masters 



24 ADDRESS. 

the immediate emancipation of their slaves as a condition of 
admittance to their communion, or of continuance in it? There 
is not a syllable of the kind in all their writings. The Apostle 
having exhorted slaves to the faithful discharge of the duties 
which they owed to their masters, from the fear of God, and a 
regard to his glory, commands the masters to do their duty to 
the -laves in the same manner. lie says : " And ye masters, 
do the same thing unto £hem, forbearing threatening : knowing 
that your Master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of 
persons with him." (Eph. 0:9.) "Masters, give unto your 
servants thai which is just and equal, knowing that ye also 
have a Blaster in heaven." (Col. 4:1.) 

The position, then, in which slavery is now placed by the 
laws of Christ is this: They concede to masters the right of 
ownership of their slaves, and at the same time they remind 
them that there arc important duties which they owe to them 
a- immortal, and many of them as redeemed creatures, whom 
God has taken into covenant with himself, and that they must 
give account to him for the manner in which they discharge or 
violate these duties. They command the slave to submit to 
the rule of his master, and to perform the duties which he 
owes to him with fidelity, and in the fear of God. To both the 
master and the slave, they say : "As ye would that men should 
do to yon, do ye also to them likewise." (Luke G : 31.) We are 
aware that this passage has been interpreted to mean, that as 
no man desires to be held in slavery, so the slaveholder should 
gratify the desires of the slave and make him free. This is 
entirely changing the rule, and making it to read thus: 
" "Whatsoever others would that you should do to them that do 
ye t«» them." But it is : "As ye would that others should do 
to you, do ye also to them likewise." "We have no right to 
desire others to give up their lawful rights, or to do unjustly, 
for our sakes : nor does Christ intend that we shall sacrifice 
our right-, or l'ail to do our duties, for the sake of gratifying 
the unreasonable or unlawful and sinful desires of others. 
Take the case of a murderer and a judge or a jury man. "Would 
it be right for a judge ora juryman to reason thus: "If I were 
in the case of this murderer I should wish to be acquitted, but 
I ought to do to him what were I in his circumstances, and he 
in mine. I would wish him to do to me, and then-lore I will 



REASONS FOR TEE PERMISSION OF SI. A VI 

acquit him" ? The meaning of the precepl is, thai In our con- 
duct to others we should have a constant regard to the law of 
God, and act towards them with the same benevolence, truth, 
and justice, as we have a right to wish them to act towards 
us; thus conscientiously performing to each oilier tin- duties 
belonging to our relative positions and conditions in life. Tin- 
law of God, and not the desires of others is the rule of our con- 
duct. A covetous man, through the inordinate love of money, 
runs deeply in debt to an honest man. He is exceedingly 
unwilling to pay the debt, and, though he lias ample means to 
do so, yet most earnestly wishes his creditor to relinquish it. 
Does this precept require the honest and laborious creditor to 
do so, and to act on such reasonings as this : "This man who 
owes me a large sum of money, though he is able to pay it, 
yet wishes me to relinquish my claim to it ; true, indeed, it is 
the gain of years of honest industry and frugality, and the loss 
of it will reduce me to poverty; but yet, if I were in his cir- 
cumstances, and had his disposition, and if he were in my cir- 
cumstances, I should have the same desires as his, and there- 
fore it is my duty to comply with his desires, and relinquish 
my claim to the debt." If we should thus interpret and act on 
this precept, we should introduce a frightful state of society. 
The rule contemplates a continuance of its established order ; 
that the parent shall retain his authority over his child, and 
the child revere and obey his parent ; that the husband shall 
be kind and faithful to his wife, and the wife shall be affection- 
ate and faithful to her husband ; that the master shall be just 
and merciful to his slave, and the slave be obedient and faith- 
ful to his master. 

In the Epistle of Paul to Philemon, we have an admirable 
illustration of this rule, as applicable to the case of a master 
and his runaway slave. Having declared his strong affection 
for Philemon, the high esteem in which he held his Christian 
character, and the joy and consolation he received from the 
accounts which he heard of his kindness to the people of God, 
and usefulness in the Church ; he, in the gentlest and kindest 
terms intercedes with him for Onesimus, his slave. He reminds 
Philemon of his authority, as an Apostle of Christ, to command 
him, but he tells him that for love's sake he would rather be- 
seech him. He reminds him that he was Paul the aged. He 



26 ADDRESS. 

bad grown gray in the service of Christ, and in the midst of 
perils, and persecutions, and prisons, and poverty, and stonings, 
and scourges, and shipwrecks, had triumphantly carried for- 
ward the banner of the Cross, and won thousands to Christ. 

And who is he that this intrepid Apostle so humbly beseeches! 
Is he a man who is claiming what does not belong to him? 
who is insisting on what is wrong and sinful in itself? And 
does Paul quail before this man! Does he who stood 
undaunted before Rome's cruel tyrant, Nero, cower before an 
obscure church-member, who wickedly claims what it is sinful 
for him to possess? Had this been the fact, had Grod's law 
forbidden Philemon to hold his slave, would this holy Apostle, 
whose soul was adamant, and the lightning-flash of whose eye 
made Felix tremble, would he for an instant have shrunk from, 
telling Philemon that he had no right to hold a slave ? that 
slaveholding is in itself a sin? and if he had not relinquished 
all claim to the slave, would he not have denounced against 
him the severest vengeance of Almighty God? This would be 
the course which some modern reformers would have pre- 
scribed to him ; but the course which he pursued was directly 
the opposite : and either this holy and inspired Apostle erred, 
or they are in grievous error. He knew that Philemon had 
rights; he admitted those rights. He knew that, by the 
Roman law, he had the power to punish his slave, not only 
with scourges, but with death. (Juvenal G : 219.) He knew, 
too, that even a good man might be hurried to excesses by 
passion and resentment. He, therefore, used entreaties. He 
says: "Though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee 
that which is convenient, yet for love's sake I rather beseech 
thee." Surely, if Philemon had one spark of noble, generous 
Christian feeling in his heart, he must have been astonished 
and humbled at such an address from such a one as he knew 
Paul to he. the aged Apostle of Christ, illustrious for his serv- 
ice-; and his sufferings, honored far above all others by God; 
wlm had already been rapt up into the third heaven, and now, 
dose "ii ih.' \vrge of life, stood ready, and waiting for the 
summons to ascend to his Saviour and his God, and receive his 
unfading crown of righteousness — that he should tenderly and 
earnestly beseech him! And I'm- whom does he beseech him? 
Why. for his ] r runaway -lave, Onesimus. But the Apostle 



REASONS FOll THE PERMISSION OF BLAVEBY. 27 

does not now speak of him as a slave; be commends him ae 

his son: thus intimating to Philemon, thai it' be bad any 
respect or love for him, the father, be mnsl Bhow it by kind- 
ness for his sake to his son. "I beseech thee Pot my Bon, 
Onesimns, whom I have begotten in my bonds; whom I bave 

sent again. Thou, therefore, receive him thai is mine own 
bowels." "What tenderness! what meekness 1 what humility 1 
But we can not pursue our remarks further on this wonderful 
epistle. 

Suffice it to say, that both Philemon, the master, and 
Onesimns, the slave, had been converted to Christ through the 
instrumentality of Paul, and he, reminding Philemon of this, 
exhorted him to receive his returned slave, " not now a> a serv- 
ant," (slave,) "but above a servant," (slave,) " a brother be- 
loved especially to me; but how much more unto thee, both 
in the flesh and in the Lord." No heathen, no infidel, ever 
could have acted thus from such principles, or have used such 
arguments and such motives to induce a master to treat with 
humanity his slaves. Yes ; there are Christians that are slave- 
holders ; there are slaves that are Christians ; and there are 
Christians 'who are the friends of slaveholders and their Blaves; 
and who are willing, like Paul, to hail them as brethren in 
Christ Jesus, and to sit down with them at the sacramental 
table of their common Lord and Saviour. When Philemon 
received from Onesimns himself, and had read this epistle from 
Paul, with what emotions must he have received his slave ! 
Methinks that with gushing tears, and a throbbing heart, he 
clasped him in his arms, and welcomed him back to his home ; 
and when at the close of that day he and his household bowed 
in worship before God, he thanked and praised him with the 
liveliest gratitude, and with his whole soul, for his conversion 
and return. You, Christian brethren, who yourselves haw 
tasted of the grace and goodness of the Lord, can judge of his 
feelings. Through the benign influences of the Gospel, the 
bitterness of servitude is lessened and sweetened, and "the 
brother of low degree rejoices in that he is exalted, but the rich 
in that he is made low." (James 1:9.) Philemon after his 
conversion was a better master, and Onesimus after his return 
was a better slave. 

The mitigating influence of Christianity was shown by the 



28 ADDRESS. 

conduct of the first Christian emperor of Rome, Constan tine the 
Great, who abolished the punishment of slaves by crucifixion, 
and facilitated their manumission, which before was attended 
with great difficulties and no -mall expense, but which lie ren- 
dered easy, and no ways chargeable.* 

T owe an apology to Synod for trespassing so long on their 
time; but I trust thai the importance of the subject will be my 
excuse. Permit me, however, to remark, that our Southern 
Christian brethren are fully impressed with their duty to com- 
municate the Gospel to their slaves, and to give them suitable 
religious instructions and privileges. None can more strongly 
insist on this duty than does the Southern Presbytericm Review^ 
a very able and excellent work, published at Columbia, S. C. 
It says, speaking of their slaves : 

'• We still bear in mind that they are men, and have immortal souls; that 
Christ shed his blood to redeem them as well as ourselves, and that we are put 
in charge of their training as that of our own children, for his kingdom of 
glory. It is, then, as plain as daylight that Christianity condemns all laws of 
the Male, and all ideas and practices of individuals which put aside the im- 
mortality of the slave, and regard him in any other light than that of a moral 
and responsible fellow-creature of our own. We have no hesitation in declar- 
ing that we accord with Judge O'Xeall in earnestly desiring the repeal, for 
example, of the law against teaching the slave to read, .... because, we con- 
ceive the law is both useless and hurtful. It is a useless law, for very many of 
our best citizens continually break it, or allow it to be broken in our families. 
Besides, very many of our slaves can read, and do teach and will teach others. 
.... Bat the law is hurtful, inasmuch as it throws an obstacle in the way of 
that which it is plainly the wisdom of the State to foster aud encourage, 
namely, the religious instruction of the young negro population." 

The writer asserts that " Christianity, while it civilizes the 
slave, improves him in all parts of his character. It takes 
away piecemeal the mass of barbarian ignorance, superstition, 
and corruption. It is advantageous to their whole physical, 
intellectual, and moral nature. It makes the slaves better, 
more intelligent, industrious, tractable, trusty — better men, bet- 
ter servants of God, better servants of man. . . . And what is 
the effect of Christianity upon the master? It softens his 
spirit in the sternness of law and discipline, while it confirms 
and establishes these just bonds. Whatever was formerly 
harsh in the relation isgradnally removed. Mutual intercourse 
is sweetened by it ; the master is no tyrant, the slave no rebel. 
"Authority ceases to be Bevere; obedience ceases to be a task." 

* Ant. Uni. Hist, vol. 15, book 3, ch. 25, pp. 576, 577. 



REASONS FOR THE PERMISSION OF BLAVBBT. 

(Southern Presbyterian Review, vol. 2, No. I, pp, 579 581.) 
" One thing," say they, addressing their felloe citizens of the 

South, "is plain. It is ours to do tho duties of intelligent, 
decided, fearless, conscientious Christian masters, and future 
events we may leave with Him who will direel them well." 
(P. 585.) 

Let us remember, that if wo refuse to receive these 
churches into full communion with ourselves, we aol on] 
elude the masters, but along with them their slaves ; many of 
whom are members in full communion in the same churches 
with their masters, and sit down with them at the same sacra- 
mental table. It is a startling fact in the history of the < Ihurch 
in our country, that a Southern Aid Society has been formed 
in this city, (New- York,) avowedly for the purpose of supplying 
the deficiency of the American Home Missionary Society, who, 
it is said, forbear to send missionaries to our Southern and 
South-Western States, because they hold slaves. Can it be 
that they thus act because they have lost confidence in the 
efficacy of the Gospel, to remove and cure the sins and evils of 
the world, and have found an obstacle too great for it to over- 
come ? 

In reading the life of the late excellent Bishop White, 
of Pennsylvania, I have met with one of his letters, dated in 
1811, in which he says, that there then was " danger of the ex- 
tinction of the profession of Christianity among a great propor- 
tion of the people of the United States." It would seem, from 
the course that the Home Missionary Society pursues towards 
them, that they are willing that this event should happen in 
our Southern States. What a contrast to the conduct of Christ, 
who commenced his public ministry, by going among " the 
people who sat in darkness and in the region and shadow of 
death," (Matt. 4 : 15, 1G,) and who came to save the chief of 
sinners. But they seem to think that our Southern brethren 
are in a darkness so deep, and are sinners so great, that their 
condition is hopeless; or that they deserve to die in their sins. 
without the Gospel. Dark, however, as they may consider 
their state to be, it is the firm conviction of the writer of this, 
and he speaks from personal knowledge, that the Gospel is 
preached in greater, and in many instances in far greater purity, 
and consequently with far greater power, in the pulpits of the 



30 



ADDRESS. 



Southern churches generally, than if la in a large number of 
the Northern churches. That some of the Southern masters 
are cruel to then- .laws he does not deny. This, however, is 
only admitting that there are cruel men at the South, as well 
as at tin. North. But he confidently asserts, that public senti- 
ment in the South is strong against such cruel masters ; and he 
believes that should auch a scene occur among them as the 
-hath of "Uncle Tom," it would send a thrill of horror, and 
produce as strong detestation throughout our Southern as it 
would throughoul our Northern States. Our Southern breth- 
ren complain, and they complain with truth, that " so mon- 
strous are the misrepresentations which ignorance, malice, and 
fanaticism are constantly and assiduously propagating in re- 
gard to this (the slave) relation among us, that if our names 
were not actually written under the pictures, we should never 
suspeel that they were intended for us." Sure we are, that 
withholding the Gospel from them, and refusing to hold eccle- 
siastical connection with them, will produce no beneficial 
results, while it may be attended with most disastrous conse- 
quences. 

Hitherto we have, as a nation, run a career of unex- 
ampled prosperity ; and, bound together by that glorious Con- 
stitution, which, under the guidance of Heaven, the wisdom 
and patriotism of our fathers formed, we have reposed in the 
peace and the safety of a mighty empire, while a glorious 
future opens before us. Not only do our own safety and hap- 
piness require the perpetuity of our Union, but true patriots 
and philanthropists throughout the world desire with intense 
anxiety the success of our attempt at self-government, and the 
dissolution of our Union would be a fearful blow to the cause 
1,1 '<•'., freedom throughout the world. To ourselves it would 
bring nun, for it would at once plunge us into the horrors of a 
civil war. And for what ? Why, for the maintenance of an 
mlidel abstraction, concerning the inalienable rights of man in 
W *£J ,,l "- v r;i11 :l Btate of nature. Suppose, then, that the three 
millions oi Southern slaves were all liberated at once, thai the 
WI ~ ,M, ~' ofthe A.bolitionis1 were carried out to their full extent 
A ;' Iiat NV " I,M '"' ^ir condition? Would we join them to drive 
the 8ou±he ra white men from their homes, and to seize their 
property, and so throw them out, with their families, houseless, 



REASONS FOU THE PERMISSION OF BLAVERT. .".1 

impoverished, and helpless? Or are the Abolitionists of the 
North prepared to receive and supporl these three millions of 
slaves? The greatest injustice and cruelty thai could be done 
to them, would be simply to carry at once into execution thai 
for which, not the slaves, but the Abolitionists are contending. 
And shall we, for such a mad scheme, break up our confeder- 
acy and dissolve our Union? Where is the true-hearted 
American that advocates this? Where is the American bo 
ungrateful to God for the blessings of the governmenl ander 
which he lives, and such a traitor to his country, as to consenl 
to the breaking up of our Union, and consequently the destruc- 
tion of our own happiness, and of our usefulness to the world, 
that now stand in bright prospect before us ? And what would 
be the gains of such traitorous and diabolical schemes, should 
they prove successful ? Who would be benefited by them ? 
Not one ; while all would be losers. None can predict what 
disasters and crimes and sorrows would follow an event so 
marked by folly and. wickedness. All the denunciations and 
slanders and bitterness of Abolitionists will never benefit the 
slaves of the South. These are not the methods which God 
employs to bless men. His Church is " the light of the world," 
is " the salt of the earth," by which he instructs, purifies, and 
elevates them. 

Shall we then join hands with, the Abolitionist, and dis- 
own every Christian minister, and close every church at the 
South, so far as in us lies, abolish from among them the 
Sabbath, and the worship of God, and the sacred ordinances of 
our religion, and leave them, in spiritual matters, in a deeper 
than Egyptian darkness ; and this, too, for not doing what they 
can not do, emancipate at once all their slaves ? Our brethren 
of the Chassis of North-Carolina are the true friends of the 
slaves among whom they live, as well as of their masters ; and 
are laboring, as the ministers of God, to convey to them the 
blessings of salvation. Christ has owned them as his minis- 
ters, and they come to us in the name of Christ, seeking to be 
one with us. Shall we repel them ? Shall the Dutch Church, 
which has heretofore gloried in the reputation of its steadfast- 
ness in the truth and purity of the Gospel, and of its conserva- 
tive influence amid the agitations and changes that have for 
years past shaken society, now abandon its conservative course, 



32 



ADDRESS. 



and forfeit its conservative character? No. Let us take these, 
our Southern brethren, by the hand, and say to them: Christian 
brethren, we own and we bless you as such in the name of the 
Lord. We hail you in your good works, and in all your 
efforts to instruct and enlighten and Christianize the slaves 
thai are among you. Our arms are open to receive you ; and. 
while we ask the blessing of God on you and your labors, we 
welcome you as one with us in Christ. 



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